


Connections

by chancellorxofxtrash



Series: VRAINS Soulmate AU [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, Multi, Pain Sharing, SOLtis Windy is there too, Wind Kid gets a name, tentacle monster Windy is there too
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 20:43:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21124958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chancellorxofxtrash/pseuds/chancellorxofxtrash
Summary: Ryoken did not tell his father about the pain he felt.Or: in which Ryoken Kogami has a soulmate, who is a part of the Lost Incident. And also gets a lot more than he bargained for, as it seems like that an Ignis being part of the equation messes up things completely.





	Connections

**Author's Note:**

> So this is canon divergent after S2, it will be fairly obvious where.
> 
> Also yes I have an agenda here. The "let Ryoken team up with an Ignis" agenda. And I am making it happen even if it kills me.
> 
> Also a Ryoken/Windy agenda.

Ryoken did not tell his father about the pain he felt.

It was not that hard to avoid him, after all. He was busy, he needed to monitor the experiment, and whenever he was actually there, to try to look after Ryoken, he could just pretend he fell and hit himself, in case the timing was bad.

The research was important. His father told him so before - he was working on building a future, he said. Which meant that Ryoken couldn’t interrupt him.

And if Ryoken would have told his father that his soulmate was one of the kids in the experiment it would have been an interruption.

Having a soulmate meant that whatever pain one of you felt, the other shared in it. It was supposed to be something to connect people together. Genome’s theory was, that because humans like to be in company, they instinctively looks for ways to connect - and their DNA adapted to this deep-rooted need to connect, and that’s why soulmates even exist.

But Genome was  _ weird  _ so Ryoken didn’t really know what to think of that, really. All he knew, that he felt the suffering and pain of one of the kids.

It wasn’t that hard to figure out which one was it.

Number 3. The Wind Room.

He didn’t know his name, but he knew his pain - he knew he always got dizzy when he was hungry, and then came the pain and the weakness. He wondered if he ate more, it would help him or not, but he had no way to check.

He considered talking to him as well, after he talked to his small… friend? Was the boy in the Dark Room considered to be his friend? Maybe, if things would have been different, but now.

It wasn’t easy, talking to the boy in the Dark Room, but talking to the boy in the Wind Room was impossible.

His finger lingered over the intercom button.

_ It is because of your father that he is suffering. And you are not stopping your father. You deserve to share his pain, then. You don’t deserve to talk to him. _

He pulled his hand back.

Eventually obviously he alerted the authorities, and the boy left. Ryoken never expected to see him again.

He didn’t even deserve to see him again, honestly. So it was fine.

He had other things to focus on, either way.

~*~

For years, he didn’t feel many things through their bond - it seemed like his soulmate was living a quite uneventful life after the Incident. Which was fine by Ryoken.

Ryoken became Revolver, and sometimes, rarely, the thoughts crossed his mind that  _ if he watches broadcasts from Link VRAINS, he might put things together,  _ but he pushed those thoughts away.

His soulmate decidedly did  _ not  _ need him, and he planned for himself to be erased either way.

That has to be a painless death, so his soulmate won’t suffer much because of it.

Then of course that did not happen.

What  _ did  _ happen though…

~*~

He was about to just stand up from his desk on their boat, when the sudden pain hit him. He couldn’t help but fall over, hitting himself on the table as a result - not that it mattered a lot compared to the pain he was feeling.

There was agony through his own body, and  _ heat,  _ and his entire body was shaking. He was vaguely aware of Spectre asking what was wrong, but he couldn’t form any words as a reply before passing out.

When he woke up in bed, his entire body was still sore and numb, and Spectre was pacing nervously.

“We need information.”

Spectre stopped, hurrying back to Ryoken’s side.

“Are you alright?”

“I am.”

“Ah” Spectre nodded, deep in thought. “You have a soulmate then as well. Are you worried?”

Ryoken knew. He knew Spectre had a soulmate and also knew who  _ that  _ was. But that was an entirely different can of worms he was not in the mood to open now. He knew Spectre wouldn’t mind talking about it, but talking with Spectre about the incident was always  _ odd,  _ so he preferred not to.

“The Dark Ignis might have been instinctively driven to Playmaker. Soulburner is also paired up with the Fire Ignis. Jin Kusanagi’s consciousness had been stolen. It is possible that the other people in the incident will be targets of attacks as well. They won’t come near you, at least not yet, but the others don't have this luxury.”

Spectre hummed, slowly nodding.

“So your soulmate is one of the other children from the Hanoi Project, then.”

Ryoken sat up slowly, disregarding Spectre’s fussing and the fact that he was still in pain.

If he was still in pain, then…

“It was the Wind Ignis’ origin. Ask for information about him from Faust.”

It was time to track him down.

Junpei Hamasaki.

That was his name.

Ryoken knew how to get information. He grabbed Faust to come with him, and he presented fake identification, to get the information they needed.

As far as the hospital knew, Faust was a specialist, and Ryoken his protegée. And that worked for now, at least.

His doctor sighed, looking down on his tablet, frowning.

“It is a small miracle that he survived, actually. His hips and spine were seriously damaged - even with rehabilitation it is doubtful that he will be able to stand up again, and in the off chance that he will, it is likely he will have to endure a lot of pain while doing so. He also sustained serious burns all over his body, mostly on his arms and torso, but his face had been injured as well. He will need more surgeries to cover them up, but even then…”

“Do we know what caused the accident?” Ryoken interrupted, and the doctor frowned.

“It doesn’t really change the diagnosis, but I have been told the AI malfunctioned in a nearby car.”

Malfunctioning AI…

It really did not take long from that point on to hack into the system to see what really happened.

~*~

Ryoken told himself it was no different. The Ignis were humanity’s enemy, and the Wind Ignis just proven that already. That was all it was, nothing more.

And yet.

“I did not need him anymore” The Wind Ignis shrugged, and something fired up inside Ryoken’s soul.

“Humans are not for you to need and use. And I will prove that for you.”

In retrospect, maybe he didn’t have to use that harsh of a method to infect the Wind Ignis, but something deep inside Ryoken snapped at that point.

In that point, Revolver was not there. Only Ryoken Kogami was.

And even Ryoken Kogami did his best to ignore the fact, that faintly, he seemed to be able to feel the Wind Ignis’ pain.

~*~

Of course when Spectre’s body jerked and he fell to his knees, and tears started to flow from his eyes, Ryoken had a good idea what was happening. Spectre’s soulmate was probably fine, but there was someone who  _ definitely  _ wasn’t. (Their spy had informed them about this fact.)

All these years of knowing Spectre, Ryoken had never seen him that rattled, eyes widened, breath broken. When his Sunavalon monster was destroyed, he was angry, devastated, but the look on his face was truly different this time around.

“It feels like a part of me went silent. Almost as if there was a portion of me that I never even noticed that was there, only now that it went away.”

And Ryoken knew exactly what he meant, when he felt the Wind Ignis being hit by Soulburner’s attacks over and over again, and the way he was set on fire.

In a short time, he felt the heat of fire two times in a row.

He tried his best to ignore what this meant, but when he was also disappearing, and he entrusted Playmaker and the Dark…. no, he entrusted  _ Ai  _ with his wishes, his last thought was with the boy in the hospital, and wondering if he had any ideas about what was going on. He was wondering whether the reporters were broadcasting their duels everywhere.

Was he concerned? Confused? Angry?

The bond did not deliver emotions, after all.

~*~

After all of it was said and done, he found himself sometimes wandering around the hospital. Paying for Hamasaki’s hospital bills anonymously, watching him from afar, as he was outside, head held down, and Ryoken was leaning by the wall.

Part of him wanted to go to talk to him.

Part of him had no idea what to say.

It was a few months after the final fight with Bohman, that Playmaker contacted him, and the two of them were sitting in front of the hot dog truck.

“Ai is bringing the other Ignis back.”

“Are you asking for my blessing?”

“No. I am just letting you know that this is happening. I do not want to fight you, Revolver.”

“But you will? For the Ignis?”

“If I have to.”

Ryoken leant back, looking away, trying his best not to look into Playmaker’s determined green eyes.

“What about the Light Ignis?”

“Ai doesn’t want to make that decision alone. If he is brought back, he will be the last one.”

“What does he think?”

“He doesn’t say it, but I’m sure he wants to give Lightning another chance. But he wants the others to weigh in as well.”

Playmaker said it with absolute conviction, like there was no question about what was going on within Ai’s mind.

“Do you have a soulmate, Playmaker?”

Now that made him look taken aback.

“...yes.”

“Do they know they are your soulmate?”

“Yes. And no.”

“What do you mean?”

“He knows Playmaker is his soulmate. He also knows Yusaku Fujiki is his soulmate” Playmaker pulled a face. “He just doesn’t know they are the same person.”

“Your soulmate isn’t the smartest person now, is he?”

There was a small smile on Playmaker’s face.

“I guess you could say that.”

Ryoken was silent for a few moments, before Playmaker spoke again.

“There is a reason why you asked me that, isn’t there?”

“I guess he didn’t notice then that he probably felt things from your Ignis as well, did he?”

Playmaker looked at him, with  _ that  _ look, that infuriating look, like he suddenly immediately  _ understood  _ everything, like Ryoken’s soul was laid bare in front of him, like  _ they  _ were soulmates, who could see into each others’ minds without issue.

“One of the Lost Incident victims is your soulmate.”

It wasn’t a question, so Ryoken didn’t even answer.

“Windy’s… right?”

“His name is Junpei Hamasaki” Ryoken interrupted him. “He has a name. He isn’t just the Wind Ignis’ partner. He has a life.”

“So he is still alive.”

Ryoken nodded.

“He is still in the hospital, but yes. He is alive.”

“So when Windy…”

“It wasn’t as sharp as everything I felt from Hamasaki” Ryoken shook his head. “When something happens to Hamasaki, I feel it like it would be happening to me. When the Wind Ignis was hurt, it was more muted. It was still painful, but not to the same extent.”

“When Ai is hurt, I feel it the same way I feel my soulmate’s pain” Playmaker said plainly. “There is no difference between that. I guess we are just as connected to the Ignises who were made from us like we are to our soulmates, but our soulmates get a more watered down version of it.”

That made sense, Ryoken figured.

“...so if you are soulmates, then… back then…”

“Yes.”

Hearing the single confirmation, Playmaker closed his eyes briefly, before opening them again.

“Did your father know?”

“No.”

“Would it have made a difference?”

“He was my father.”

“That wasn’t an answer.”

“I wasn’t willing to risk it.”

And that was all there to it.

~*~

“So. You are back.”

“Great observation, you humans are indeed extremely perceptive, aren’t you?”

The Wind Ignis still looked damaged - it seemed like even though they managed to rebuild him, they couldn’t fix all the damage the virus had caused to his body - he still wore an eyepatch and bandages, although not quite as villainously ridiculous anymore.

Still ridiculous, mind you.

(Similarly, he saw the Earth Ignis, also looking like he had cracks all over his body, when he saw him talk with Spectre. He couldn’t blame Spectre for wanting to talk with him. Not after everything.)

He was sitting on the shoulder of Echo, shaking his legs, looking over Link VRAINS.

“So. You are one masochistic bitch, huh? Doing this to me, while it was hurting you?”

“Believe me, it hurt you way more than it hurt me.”

The Wind Ignis huffed, crossing his arms in front of himself.

“You are impossible to talk with.”

“Do you even  _ want  _ to talk?”

“With you? No.”

“Then I don’t see the problem.”

~*~

It was almost impossible to avoid him - after all, he needed to keep a close eye on all the Ignis. They all seemed to be behaving themselves - even the Light Ignis, who was also brought back (after a lot of fights, Ryoken was told). Playmaker told him that they were all taking time to heal, and collect themselves, and decide what to do next.

There was no reason to hunt the Ignis, but there was no reason to trust them either. There was no harm in leaving them alone, at least until there will be some proof of them scheming something again.

“You? Building a concept of trust? That’s new.”

“Shut up.”

The Wind Ignis sorted, taking a spin on Echo’s head.

“You gotta  _ make me  _ if you want me to shut up.”

“I impaled you once, I can do it again.”

“Kinky.”

Ryoken reached out to pull on the tendril on the Wind Ignis’ head that made him yelp.

“Ow! You are a total bastard, you know that, right?”

“Yet you are bothering me.”

“Hey, doesn’t it hurt you as well? I  _ knew _ you were a masochistic weirdo.”

“As I said, this doesn’t hurt me nearly as much as it hurts you.”

~*~

It was winter, the wind was blowing the fallen leaves everywhere, and Ryoken was walking towards the hospital, when he saw the figure. He was basically impossible to miss, despite how short he was - his hair was bright green, with darker highlights, kinda messy, with a long, thin ponytail. Also was wearing a vintage-looking dark green longcoat, heeled boots (still looked short even in those), and a frilly shirt.

And an eyepatch.

Ryoken walked up to him, hands in pockets.

“I don’t think you need an eyepatch in this body.”

The Wind Ignis pulled a face, wrinkling his nose, as he looked with his single, purple eye at Ryoken.

He also had the faint light on his neck, obviously.

SOLtiS androids seemed to be really useful to the Ignis, apparently.

“Shut up.”

Ryoken rolled his eyes, looking at the hospital in the distance.

“Are you gonna go in, or are you just gonna lurk?”

The Wind Ignis glared at him, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“Are  _ you?” _

Ryoken rolled his eyes again, before taking off his scarf, to wrap it around the Wind Ignis’ neck.

“It’s better if they don’t see what you are.”

The Wind Ignis was quiet - for once. It was almost eerie, and Ryoken’s fingers lingered there a bit longer than needed, before pulling back, and starting to walk towards the hospital.

He heard the footsteps following him, but he didn’t turn around.

~*~

It almost became a  _ thing _ , the two of them hanging around in the hospital. The Wind Ignis had a knack of knowing when Ryoken was going (maybe he was tapping into the bond they seemed to have, that he preferred not to think about), and he would be lurking around the hospital, waiting for Ryoken to go along with.

Still wearing Ryoken’s scarf, by the way.

While they were in the hospital, he was very quiet, but while they were walking there, or coming out of there, he was absolutely  _ insufferable.  _ Never shutting up, always blabbering on, and even when Ryoken pulled on his ponytail, that only shut him up for a short amount of time.

One time, when they were leaving, they ended up walking through some more backroads - it was just the fastest way back to the train station after all - when a few thugs stepped in their way.

And they seemed to have absolutely zero awareness about the fact that neither Ryoken, nor the Wind Ignis seemed to be very scared of them standing in their way.

“We are fair players” the ringleader grinned. “If you can beat the two of us in a duel, we are letting you go. If not… well… you two look rich. We get everything you have.”

Ryoken rolled his eyes, and glanced at the Wind Ignis from the corner of his eyes.

“Well, so all of this is your fault. Because you have to dress like an idiot.”

“It’s not my fault you look like a loser who just stepped off his damn boat.” The Wind Ignis pouted, before grinning like an absolute menace, his uncovered eye glinting maniacally. “Hey… what do you say? You give me a setup, and I blow them away in the second round?”

The Wind Ignis’ grin was almost infectious, and Ryoken really couldn’t help but smirk as well, uncovering his duel disk, just as the Wind Ignis was doing the same as well.

“Sounds good to me.”

_ Duel! _

~*~

Of course peace was not gonna stay forever in Link VRAINS - but oddly enough, it wasn’t the Ignis who started the next incident. But of course they all got dragged into it, as usual. It seemed like there was only a select group of people equipped to deal these kinds of threats.

Made sense, in an odd way, Ryoken figured. Or maybe he was too close to it to realise that it didn’t make sense.

Either way, their new foe was dangerous, and the building they were was collapsing. Their foe duelled the Wind Ignis, and he seemed to  _ know  _ things he shouldn’t have, and he brought up…

_ “Look at you. The Ignis without a partner. Who would want to partner up with someone who tried to kill off their potential partner?” _

_ “I don’t need anyone! I can do it alone!” _

_ “Really? That’s why you are losing, right?” _

And he lost.

He lost, and the building was collapsing, and everyone else was further away, already, and Ryoken...

The Wind Ignis lost, Echo exploded, and he was on the floor, shivering (and a numb pain ran across Ryoken’s body as well), as their foe smirked, stepping forward.

_ “I am going to take your data now.” _

Ryoken’s body moved forward without him even realising it. He was fast when he needed to be, and he was running, jumping over one last fallen boulder.

“Windy!”

The Ignis moved instantly upon hearing his name, his good eye widening, as the last rubbles were falling down, effectively locking both of them in with their foe, and Ryoken’s hands reached Windy, grabbing him, and jumping away, their foe’s attack just barely missing them.

“...Revolver?”

Ryoken opened his hands, looking at the bewildered Ignis in his palm.

“Listen up. I have no intention of dying here, and I am sure neither do you. So would you put in some  _ effort  _ into getting us out of here?”

Windy only looked at him with a shocked expression for a few more moments, before the two of them where surrounded by a whirl of datastorm, knocking their foe away.

_ He was the best at controlling the datastorm, after all. _

So all Ryoken had to go was to jump on his D-board, and use the wind to lead him out of there.

He didn’t notice when Windy ended up in his duel disk, but he realised he wasn’t nearly as surprised about it as he should have been.

~*~

“So. This is our situation now.”

Ryoken closed themselves into his cabin on the ship, and put his duel disk on the desk, and Windy looked very displeased, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“I didn’t  _ want  _ a partner.”

“You jumped into my disk.”

“It was an accident!”

“Sure.”

Windy huffed, looking out on the boat’s window, and crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“You can leave, you know.”

“...the two of us were a good team. Against those two thugs.”

Windy’s voice was hesitant, and Ryoken slowly nodded.

“Yes.”

“This enemy… they gonna need a good team to get rid of them.”

“Indeed.”

“The sooner we get rid of them, the sooner everything can go back to usual.”

“That’s true.”

“So. If we fight together, the two of us can actually get rid of the problems sooner.”

It all made sense in a way, Ryoken figured. And then of course Windy raised a finger.

“One condition.”

“Say it.”

“You need a new avatar.”

Ryoken couldn’t help but to smile a little.

“That can be arranged.”

~*~

Ryoken thought of what would his father think.

But only briefly, before pushing the thoughts away. He knew exactly what would his father think and say. He saw the same thoughts in the eyes of the Knights, but they didn’t say anything. He knew they  _ had  _ those thoughts, but they wouldn’t  _ act  _ on them, so it was good enough for Ryoken. At least until this was all over, they can all deal with Windy.

Spectre was the only one who didn’t have that look in his eyes - probably because his duel disk was also occupied.

More often than not, the two of them just put the two disks on the table so the pair could talk - or rather, Windy was talking  _ at  _ the Earth Ignis, while he was… well, too socially awkward seemingly to really know how to handle him.

“You don’t look all that surprised. Everyone else was way more shocked.”

Spectre looked at Ryoken, and tilted his head.

“Were they? I think Playmaker and his circle of friends probably understand it more. Remember, they are also in a similar, unique situation of being connected to an AI as well as their human soulmate.”

“Which makes you understand it too?”

Spectre nodded slowly, eyes drifting to the Earth Ignis - no,  _ Earth _ , who seemed to try to scold Windy for something no doubt ridiculous that Windy was just laughing about.

“It is odd, I think. Most of my time growing up, I couldn’t connect to anyone. Even the soulmate bond I had seemed distant and alien. And now…”

“Maybe you are just socially awkward.”

Spectre looked back at Ryoken, who was smiling a bit, and Spectre also chuckled.

“I suppose I am. Earth had to have gotten it from somewhere, after all.”

~*~

Their final battle with their current foes was approaching, and Ryoken decided to take one last trip to the hospital. He had no idea if they would be coming back, after all, and…

“Hey! You!”

He turned around, and his eyes met with the angry eyes of Junpei Hamasaki, and Ryoken could have swore that his heart stopped for a moment.

Hamasaki was in a wheelchair, wearing casual clothes, patches on his arms and on his face still obviously scarred from the flames of his accident.

Not that it took away from the intensity of his glare.

“Yeah, you! I know you! You keep lurking around and watching me. What is your problem?!”

“I am just an in---”

“Bullshit, you are not an intern! Interns actually  _ work  _ around here, but all you do is to come here, lurk and follow me. Along with that tiny goth weirdo boyfriend of yours.”

“He is not my boyf---”

“That is not my point!”

Ryoken took a step back, and Hamasaki just leaned forward in his chair, glaring. There was pure fury in his eyes, and he looked like that his condition or no, he was gonna jump out of his chair to strangle Ryoken with his bare hands.

“Answers. Now.”

“Look that--”

Hamasaki had a book in his lap - keyword,  _ had.  _ Because he grabbed it, and literally launched it at Ryoken, who instinctively raised his arm to protect his face.

The corner of the book hit his arm, and it wasn’t terribly painful, but there was a sharp pain shooting through his skin - and as Ryoken lowered his arm, Hamasaki was clutching on his own arm, eyes widening.

“...you?”

Ryoken straightened his back, and looked at Hamasaki.

“Me.”

It looked like his anger evaporated, at least just to give place to confusion.

“Wh… how? How did you even find me?”

“...that is a long story.”

“Oh no. No you are not doing this to me” Hamasaki’s eyes were full of anger again. “You don’t get to do that. You are here,  _ lurking,  _ and knowing… knowing who I am the whole time, and not saying a single word? You do  _ not  _ get to do that.”

“You may not like what you hear, Hamasaki.”

“I didn’t like a single thing in ten years. But you know about  _ that  _ too, don’t you? And just call me Junpei, then. We are soulmates, or whatever, aren’t we? We have a profound bond, or whatever.”

Ryoken could not miss the venom from his voice even if he had tried - so he just closed his eyes for a few moments before looking at him again.

“Yes. I do. Let’s go to your room, then. And don’t forget - you wanted to know the answers.”

~*~

“So. It was your father who kidnapped me, and the Ignis that was born from me caused my accident.”

Junpei’s voice was blunt, and Ryoken slowly nodded.

“That is right.”

“And you are Revolver, aren’t you? I watched some of his duels… and I was sure I felt the pain, but it seemed almost surreal to be true.”

“Yeah.”

“So… what’s up with the Ignis who did this to me? I didn’t watch any broadcasts since I got in the hospital.”

“...actually…”

Ryoken put his arm with the duel disk on the table - Windy was extremely quiet through all of this, and the duel disk almost completely dark.

“Get out.”

Silence.

“Do not pretend you can’t hear me. If I have to face this, so do you. Drag yourself out of here, before I reach in and pull you out by your hair.”

The duel disk lit up, and Windy popped out - all bandaged and still wearing the eyepatch, as he glanced up at Ryoken with his one good eye.

“I don’t  _ have  _ hair in this form.”

“You are out now, aren’t you?”

“...you” Junpei’s sharp voice made Windy jump and then pull himself a bit away, as if he was trying to shrink into a smaller form. “You did this to me?!”

“I…”

“It wasn’t his fault” Ryoken interrupted, his eyes fixed on Junpei. “His code was overwritten by someone who was wanting to destroy humanity at the time. Your accident is not Windy’s fault.”

He was vaguely aware that Windy was also looking up at him, but he deliberately avoided looking at him, as Junpei’s venom got fixated on him apparently.

“Well of course you would stand up for him. Your  _ father  _ made him. With torturing  _ me,  _ I must add.”

“It was his father, it wasn’t him! He is enough of a dick without you putting his father’s sins on him!”

Ryoken finally looked down at Windy, but now it was Windy who wasn’t looking at him. Junpei snorted, rolling his eyes.

“Look at you two. What a sweet pair. You look ridiculous, by the way.”

Ryoken stood up, and just slowly shook his head.

“You wanted to know the truth. Now you do. Soon, we… Windy and I will be fighting another battle. So if you feel more pain, you will know why.”

“...that’s it? You will just… leave again?”

He glanced down at Windy, who looked back at him, before both of them looked back at Junpei.

“Have you ever been to Den City?”

“...no?”

“If you want to find us, you can come to the main square. There is a hot dog stand there. If you ask the owners there that you are looking for us, they will know how to contact me.”

~*~

That night, Ryoken was lying on his back on his cabin, and there was a heavy feeling in his chest, as he stared at the ceiling.

He didn’t say a word, as his duel disk lit up on his nightstand, and a green monster emerged, wrapping long appendages around him, resting his monstrous head on his shoulder.

He figured he should have complained, should have pushed him off, but Windy was positively  _ clinging,  _ and he was surprisingly soft to touch, as Ryoken found himself holding onto Windy like he could be slipping away if he were to let him go.

Weirdly, even though Windy’s body was pressing him down, and while he wasn’t  _ heavy,  _ he certainly wasn’t  _ weightless  _ either, but it felt like the heavy feeling in his chest was disappearing.

~*~

The battle was over, and they emerged victorious, and Ryoken was  _ tired.  _ And Windy didn’t help matters with never shutting up, and Ryoken just rolled his eyes.

“Anyway. We won. So I guess this is coming to an end.”

Now  _ that  _ shut Windy up, as he hummed, tilting his head.

“I guess. Good riddance. You were the worst partner ever.”

“Says you.”

Windy snickered, and Ryoken couldn’t help a small smile, as he reached out, and gently pulled on the tendril on Windy’s head.

It was hard to tell without Windy actually having a mouth, but it actually looked like the little green menace was smiling.

~*~

When Kusanagi contacted him that someone was looking for him, he didn’t need to ask who, he just basically turned their ship back to dock immediately.

“The amount of times you are on the ground, we could stay permanently docked.”

Spectre’s voice was amused, and Ryoken couldn’t even disagree with him on that front.

“Is Earth with you?”

“Yes” Earth replied, popping out of Spectre’s duel disk.

“Can you tell Windy that I got a call from the hot dog stand?”

“That is an odd message.”

“He will understand.”

Earth disappeared, and Spectre looked at Ryoken curiously.

“Is it…?”

“Yes. Yes it is.”

“Do you want me to go with you?”

“...I think this is something that maybe only one person can be there with me for.”

He was not surprised that by the time they docked, there was a familiar android kicking the ground nervously. Ryoken jumped off the ship, and immediately headed towards the city, and Windy followed.

He also grabbed Ryoken’s arm, and clinged into him like he was his lifeline all the way back, but Ryoken pretended not to notice.

~*~

“I thought you said he wasn’t your boyfriend.”

“He isn’t.”

“You sure don’t look like he isn't.”

Junpei looked slightly better now - his face was still scarred, but he had a more custom-made chair for himself, and wearing more normal clothes instead of plain ones he was stuck with at the hospital.

His eyes wandered to Windy, who seemingly tried to disappear behind Ryoken’s scarf.

“That scarf looks horrible on you. Clashes with your outfit completely.”

“It isn’t mine.”

“Yet you wear it.”

Windy pulled the scarf down, showing the light on his neck, and Junpei slowly nodded.

“Makes sense. You didn’t want the hospital staff to notice he was a SOLtiS. Wait… is it  _ your  _ scarf? You are literally sharing clothes, and yet you tell me you  _ aren’t  _ boyfriends.”

“We aren’t.”

The two of them said it at the same time, and Junpei actually snickered.

“That’s actually the funniest thing I had seen in the past years.”

“Not like I would actually share clothes with him” Windy muttered, a faint blush obvious on his face. “Do you even see him? His sense of fashion is horribl--- ow!”

Windy let out a loud yelp as Ryoken pulled on his ponytail to make him shut up.

“...you wanted to see us?”

Junpei collected himself from his obvious amusement, before shrugging a little.

“I guess. I mean you and I, we are soulmates. So we should get to know each other, right? Besides, you are either the one who can tell me all the details of what happened to me, or can introduce me to others. So I win either way. And him… well, he is also part of the deal, isn’t he?”

That was something neither of them could argue with.

And probably, for once at least, they didn’t even want to.

~*~

“So. I guess even though you aren’t my partner, I still can’t get rid of you, because he wants to keep meeting us.”

Ryoken nodded slowly, as the two of them looked over Stardust Road. They dropped Junpei off at the place he was staying at, and Ryoken almost absentmindedly walked back there, looking over the lights on the surface of the water.

Of course Windy followed him along.

“It seems like that, yes.”

Windy’s eye was fixed on Ryoken, as he kept looking at the water.

“You look constipated.”

“Thanks.”

“You are welcome.”

Ryoken’s fingers found their way to Windy’s ponytail - but instead of pulling on it, he just started to toy with it, gently wrapping it around his fingers. Windy’s shoulders obviously lost some tension from the sensation, and Ryoken did his best to not think about it too hard.

“Hey, I hope that you getting lost in your thoughts here doesn’t mean that you are giving second thoughts to things and you are going back to what your father wanted to do. Because if you do, I will have to go and kick your ass personally, and it would be annoying. Because it would also hurt m--- hey!”

Windy let out a yelp as Ryoken’s fingers suddenly grabbed into his hair harder - and also grabbed the back of his neck, dragging Windy towards himself, and pressing their lips together.

He had no idea what he expected of kissing an android, but whatever technology SOL put into these bodies, it seemed to be working - Windy’s lips were kind of chilly because of the cold weather, but otherwise, they seemed  _ very  _ real, especially as Windy’s hands grabbed onto Ryoken’s coat, pulling him even closer, while he was kissing him back.

Ryoken would later tell himself he kept the kiss going for longer, because at least that was shutting Windy up, but truth to be told, he did  _ not  _ want to let him go. But eventually he had to, and as he pulled back, Windy looked at him with his glowing purple eye, and flushed face, and Ryoken felt like his breath was stuck in his throat, and he almost said something  _ incredibly  _ stupid.

“And either way, we both know I won last time.”

The weird expression on Windy’s face disappeared and turned into annoyance, as he pushed Ryoken away.

“You are such a  _ dick!” _

As Windy was pouting, Ryoken couldn’t help smirking, as he started to walk back towards the ship.

He didn’t need to look back. Even if Windy wasn’t following him now, he would probably make himself into a nuisance in Ryoken’s duel disk.

And maybe, just maybe, Ryoken didn’t really mind it that much.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Just for funsies: Junpei's name means "pure, affectionate" and "plain, flat, even, level", which I absolutely picked just for the sheer irony of it. Hamasaki means "seashore cape", which is a reference to the sea, which is related to Stardust Road, obviously.


End file.
